It’s pretty clear that our high schools are almost hopelessly broken. In math and science, the United States scores below countries like Slovenia and New Zealand. But the question of how to fix our schools is a thorny one.

With school starting around the country, many parents are feeling that twinge of fear — what difficult academic problems will their children bring home this year? That stress can be particularly acute when it comes to math. A recent story in the New York Times reported that up to 20% of adults suffer from math anxiety, and pass that anxiety on to their kids when they struggle to help them with their homework.